Afghanistan Medal 1878-80. No clasp (Lce. Duffr. Gopal Singh 10th Bengal Lancers)

The recipient was an Indian soldier of the Sikh faith who held the rank of Lance-Duffadar (Corporal) while serving with the 10th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Bengal Lancers, a cavalry regiment of the Bengal Presidency Army

Reference 'The Afghan Campaign 1878-1880' (S. H. Shadbolt, 1882), the regiment's record of service during the Second Afghan War:

Quote,

10th (DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE’S OWN) REGT. BENGAL CAVALRY (LANCERS).

In Oct., 1878, the 10th Bengal D.C.O. Lancers marched from Umballa, and in March, 1879, entered the Khyber, where it was chiefly employed, during the first phase of the war, in holding the Pass from Jamrud to Basawal, and after the signing of the treaty of Gandamak formed part of the rear-guard of the force retiring from Jalalabad. During the campaign small parties were frequently engaged with the enemy, in keeping open the line of communications, and in reconnaissances.

In April, 1879, the Daka garrison, under command of Major Barnes, ioth Bengal Lancers, of which the head-quarters of the regiment formed a part, was seriously threatened by a formidable force of Mohmands, who crossed the Kabul River. The enemy was met by a party of Infantry from the garrison under Captain O’M. Creagh, who, being greatly overmatched, took up a defensive position, and was quickly surrounded. Reinforcements of all arms were sent from the fort; and a part of the ioth Bengal Lancers, under Captain Strong of the regiment, made a brilliant charge which drove the enemy into, the river, and materially assisted in enabling Captain Creagh’s force to retire.

The regiment remained in the Khyber on the retirement of the main body of the forces, suffering great privation from the inadequacy of the supply of forage and water, and performing much hard work with convoys.

On the renewal of hostilities in the autumn of 1879, the regiment formed part of Brigadier-General C. Gough’s brigade, and under the command of Major W. H. Macnaghten, accompanied it as far as Jagdalak. It was the first corps of the army to pass through this celebrated defile since 1842, and from the 15th to the 31st Dec., 1879, was engaged on many occasions, both mounted and dismounted, with the Ghilzais under Asmatallah Khan. The regiment subsequently furnished a squadron under Captain Barrow, giving detachments at the posts Seh Baba, Lataband, and Butkhak.

The severe work performed by the regiment, and the bad fare on which it had subsisted during the period of its service in Afghanistan, and more particularly in the Khyber, throughout the most trying months of the year, now began to tell so severely on the horses, that in February, 1880, it was considered necessary to order it back to India to recruit.

Unquote.

10th (Duke of Cambridge's Own) Bengal Lancers: Has its origins rooted in the Indian Mutiny, when it was raised as one of three irregular cavalry units that were grouped as the corps of 'Hodson's Horse' - a famous Indian Army regiment that continues to serve in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army in 2024. The lineage and chronology of the regiment is:

- 1857 raised by Brevet Major William Hodson as Hodson's Horse
- 1858 2nd Regiment of Hodson’s Horse formed
- 1859 regiment split into 9th & 10th Bengal Lancers
- 1861 10th became 10th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry
- 1864 became 10th Regiment of Bengal Cavalry (Lancers)
- 1874 became 10th Regiment of Bengal Lancers
-1878 became 10th Bengal (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Lancers
- 1901 10th (Duke of Cambridge’s Own) Bengal Lancers (Hodson’s Horse)
- 1903 became 10th Duke of Cambridge’s Own Lancers (Hodson’s Horse)
- 1921 became 4th Duke of Cambridge's Own (Hodson's Horse)
- 1927 became Hodson's Horse (4th Duke of Cambridge's Own Lancers)
- 1947 allocated to India on Partition; became Hodson's Horse
- 1966 became 4th Horse

Condition: VF

Code: 24298